Five years ago, rising star cellist Zuill Bailey left the comfort and bustle of New York City for the quiet of El Paso.
He imagined he would stay a short while, just long enough for his artist wife, Margarita Cabrera, to finish her work there, then move on.
He never imagined he would fall in love with the region.
Within a month of arriving in the border town, Bailey landed a job as artistic director of the El Paso Pro-Musica Chamber Music Festival.
In a phone interview from home in El Paso on Monday, there was a sense from his tone that Bailey could stay in Texas indefinitely without regret. His excitement and enthusiasm for the festival and the community is contagious.
He's equally as enthusiastic about his concert career, which brings him to Green Valley on Friday.
It will be his third concert there; he said he and the audience clicked so well on his first visit, he's accepted every offer to return.
This time he brings his longtime collaborator, pianist Simone Dinnerstein.
Bailey, the father of a 3-year-old boy, said the concert will celebrate the pair's 10th anniversary of collaborating, as well as the release of their upcoming recording of Beethoven's cello and piano works.
Bailey, a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and Juilliard, has been praised for his artistic and technical command of the cello. Nevada music critic Jack Neal gushed in 2004 that "Bailey is one of the bright stars of a new generation of concert cellists. Playing with the passion of a dashing young man and the maturity of a seasoned and very musical old pro, there's no doubt he's well on his way to a brilliant career."
Bailey and Dinnerstein's concert on Friday will include works by Beethoven that they have recorded together and Shostakovich, in celebration of the 100th anniversary year of the Soviet composer's birth.
Quick take
Zuill Bailey in concert
With pianist Simone Dinnerstein
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Valley Presbyterian Church, 2800 S. Camino del Sol, Green Valley
Tickets: $10 at the door; students free
Details: 648-5961
